Register assembly



United States Patent Inventor W. Philip Ardussi Rocky River, Ohio Sept. 17, 1968 Sept. 29, 1970 The Auer Register Company Cleveland, Ohio a corporation of Ohio Appl. No. Filed Patented Assignee REGISTER ASSEMBLY 5 Claims, 5 Drawing Figs.

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,378,199 4/1968 Snell 98/40(C)UX Primary Examiner-Meyer Perlin Att0rneyY0unt, Flynn and Tarolli ABSTRACT: An improved register assembly includes a louvered front panel which is movable between a first position extending across an opening in a base through which air flows and a second position extending upwardly and outwardly from a bottom portion of the base. In the first position the louvered front panel is adapted to disperse or diffuse warm air flowing through the opening. In the second position the louvered front panel reduces resistance to the flow of air by providing for an unrestricted opening between the base and an upper portion of the front panel. When the front panel is in the second position, the register assembly is adapted to direct a relatively large flow of cool air upwardly.

Patented Sept. 29, 1970 m INVENTOR.

W. PHIL/P ARDUSSI tic nrme/vsys REGISTER ASSEMBLY This invention relates generally to a register assembly and more particularly to a register assembly which is adapted to disperse a flow of warm air and to direct a larger flow of cool air upwardly through an unrestricted opening in the register assembly.

Air conditioning units are commonly installed in conjunction with forced warm air furnaces so that the same ducts can be used to conduct warm air for heating and cold air for cooling. When a room is to be cooled, a relatively large volume of cold air should be directed upwardly toward the ceiling of the room to cool warm air which tends to rise toward the ceiling. Conversely, when a room is to be heated a somewhat smaller flow of hot air should be dispersed or diffused in the lower portion of the room to heat the relatively cold air which tends to collect adjacent to the floor of the room. Since many registers are installed near the floor of a room, they are well adapted to control only a flow of hot air. The louvers of these registers provide a relatively high resistance to the larger flow of cold air and are incapable of directing the cold air upwardly toward the ceiling of the room to effectively cool the room.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a new and improved register assembly which is effective to disperse or diffuse a flow of warm air for heating purposes and to direct a larger flow of cold air upwardly for cooling purposes.

Another object of this invention is to provide a new and improved register assembly adapted for use in combination heating and cooling systems and having a louvered front panel which is movable between a first position for dispersing or diffusing a flow of warm air and a second position in which the resistance of the register assembly is substantially reduced by the formation of an unrestricted opening through which a relatively large flow of cold air is directed upwardly toward the ceiling of the room by the front panel.

Another object of this invention is to provide a new and improved register assembly including a damper having a plurality of blades for limiting and directing a flow of air and a louvered front panel for dispersing or diffusing the flow of air wherein the front panel is movable away from the damper to an upwardly and outwardly sloping position forming an unrestricted opening through which the front panel is adapted to direct upwardly a relatively large flow of air.

These and other objects and features of the invention will become more apparent upon a consideration of the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view illustrating a register assembly constructed in accordance with the present invention and mounted in a wall of a building, the register assembly being shown with a-front panel in a closed position;

FIG. 2 is an elevational view of the register assembly of FIG. 1 with the front panel pivoted outwardly and sloping upwardly to provide an unrestricted opening for the upward flow of a relatively large volume of cool air, the register assembly being shown for purposes of clarity of illustration apart from the wall of the building;

FIG. 3 is a view taken along the line 3-3 of FIG. 2, on a reduced scale, and illustrating the structure of a damper provided at the rear or back of the register assmebly;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view, taken along the line 4-4of FIG. 2, illustrating the mounting of the front panel on a base of the register assembly; and

FIG. 5 is a sectional view, taken along the line 5-5 of FIG. 4, further illustrating the mounting of the front panel on the base of the register assembly.

This invention provides a register assembly having a louvered front panel which is pivotally connected to a base defining an opening through which air for heating or cooling at room flows. By positioning the front panel across the opening, the louvers in the front panel disperse or diffuse and outward flow of warm air to effectively heat various parts of the room. To enable a relativelylarge volume of cold air required for cooling the room to flow easily through the register assembly, the resistance of the register assembly to a flow of air is substantially reduced by pivoting the front panel to an outwardly and upwardly sloping position to form an unrestricted opening. The sloping front panel is then effective to direct the relatively large flow of cold air upwardly through the unrestricted opening toward the ceiling of the room where warm air tends to collect.

Although a register constructed in accordance with the present invention can be used in many different environments and locations, a register 10 forming a preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated in FIG. I mounted in a wall 12 of a building. The register 10 includes a base 14 which is connected to the wall of the building and defines an opening 16 through which air from a suitable duct flows into a room of the building. When the room is to be heated, a flow of warm air is dispersed or diffused, in a known manner, by louvers 20 formed in a front panel 22 which extends across the opening 16. A damper assembly 26 is provided rearwardly of the front panel 22 for limiting and directing the flow of air through the opening 16 in a known manner (see FIGS. 2 and 3).

In accordance with the present invention, the resistance of the register 10 to a flow of air can be substantially reduced to enable the register 10 to be used for regulating and directing a relatively large volumetric flow of cold air required for cooling the room. To this end, the front panel 22 is mounted for pivoting movement from the closed position of FIG. 1 to the open position of FIG. 2. When the front panel 22 is in the open position the resistance of the register 10 to a flow of air is substan tially reduced by the formation of an unrestricted opening 30 between an upper portion 32 of the front panel 22 and the base 14 of the register.

The formation of the opening 30 increases the free area" of the register 10 to decrease'the resistance to the flow of air by as much as fifty percent. This substantial reduction in resistance to the flow of air enables the large volume of cold air required for cooling a room to flow through the register 10 without a substantial increase in the air pressure in the duct to which the register 10 is connected. If the front panel 22 was left in the closed position of FIG. 1, the louvers 20 would tend to block the flow of air through the register 10 and the air pressure in the associated duct would have to be substantially increased to provide the requisite volumetric flow of air for cooling the room.

Since hot or warm air tends to rise while colder air tends to .sink, it is advantageous when heating a room to disperse or diffuse a flow of warm air into a space adjacent to the floor of the room where cold air tends to collect. Conversely, when cooling a room it is advantageous to direct the flow of cold air upwardly toward the ceiling of the room to cool the relatively warm air which tends to collect adjacent to the ceiling. To this end, the front panel 22 is closed (as shown in FIG. 1) when hot air for heating is flowing through the register 10 so that' the louvers 20 disperse the outward flow of hot air into an area adjacent to the floor of the room. When relatively cold air is flowing through the register 10 to cool a room, the front panel 22 is pivoted to the open position of FIG. 2 so that the front panel slopes outwardly and upwardly to direct the relatively large flow of cold air upwardly toward the ceiling of the room to thereby effectively cool the room. Of course, the provision of the unrestricted opening 30 adjacent to the upper portion 32 of-the front panel 22 facilitates this relatively large upward flow of air by substantially reducing the air-flow resistance of the register.

In order to enable an occupant of the room to regulate the temperature of the room, the damper assembly 26 includes a plurality of blades 38 which are movable between an open condition, shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, in which air can flow through the opening 16 and a closed condition, shown in FIG. 1, in which the blades abuttingly overlap each other to block a flow of air through the opening 16. Each of the blades 38 extends longitudinally across the opening 16 and is pivotally connected to the base 14 by outwardly projecting pin portions 42 which engage holes or apertures 44 in opposite sides 46 and 48 of the base (see FIGS. 3 and 4). When the blades 38 are in a partially opened condition (see FIGS. 2 and 4) the blades direct the flow of air either upwardly (as shown in FIG. 4) or downwardly, depending upon the direction in which the blades slope. A straight through flow of air is obtained by orientating the blades 38 in a generally horizontal position. Of course, the rate of flow of air through the opening 16 can be varied by varying the slope of the blades 38 to increase or decrease the extent to which they block the flow of air.

An actuator assembly 52 is connected to the blades 38 to enable the blades to be simultaneously moved relative to the base 14 to vary the rate of flow of air through the opening 16 and to coordinate the movements of the blades so that they are all in the same orientation relative to the base 14. To this end, the actuator assembly 52 includes an actuator lever 54 which projects through a slot 56 in a continuous rectangular flange portion 58 of the base 14 (see FIGS. 1 and 3). An intermediate portion of the actuator lever 54 is pivotally connected to the side 46 while a rearward end portion of the actuator lever is pivotally connected at 62 to a connector link 64 (see FIG. 3). The connector link 64 is in turn pivotally connected to the blades 38 so that movement of the actuator lever 54 moves the connector link 64 and all of the blades 38 at the same time to adjust the position of the blades and thereby regulate the flow of air through the register.

When the front panel 22 is in the closed position of FIG. 1, the front panel is flush with the flange portion 58 of the base 14. The front panel 22 is held in this position by a protuberance 70 formed on a lip 72 of the upper portion 32. The protuberance 70 engages a longitudinally extending side 76 (see FIG. 3) of the base portion 14 to function as a detent and retain the front panel 22 against outward pivoting movement. A handle or knob 80 is provided on a central portion of the front panel 22 to facilitate pulling the front panel 22 from the closed position of FIG. 1 to the open position of FIG. 2.

When the front panel 22 is in the open position of FIG. 2,

the front panel is adapted to direct a flow of relatively cold air for cooling upwardly towards the ceiling of a room. To initiate an upward turning of the flow of cold air before it reaches the front panel 22, it is contemplated that the blades 38 of the damper 26 will be in a upwardly sloping position, similar to that shown in FIG. 4. The upward turning of this flow of air is then completed by the upwardly and outwardly sloping panel 22 so that the relatively cold air flows through the unrestricted opening 30 toward the ceiling of the room at a relatively high rate due to the low resistance of the opening 30 to a flow of arr.

The front panel 22 is pivotally connected at opposite ends to the sides 46 and 48 of the base 14 by a pair of a pivot connections 86 (see FIGS. 4 and wherein only the pivot connection 86 to the side 48 is shown). The pivot connection 86 includes a rivet 88 which extends through the side 48 and a slot 90 formed in an inwardly turned side section 92 of the front panel 22. A relatively large retaining head or disc 94 is secured to the rivet 88 to pivotally connect the front panel 22 to the base 14. A stop portion 98 of the side section 92 engages an inwardly protruding portion of the side 48 to limit the pivoting movement of the front panel 22 about the rivet 88 in the manner illustrated in FIG. 4.

In view of the foregoing remarks, it can be seen that the register includes a louvered front panel 22 which is movable between a closed position (FIG. 1) in which it is effective to disperse or diffuse a flow of hot air and an open position in which the front panel 22 directs a flow of relatively cold air upwardly through an unrestricted opening 30 to cool a room. The formation of the unrestricted opening 30 by movement of the front panel 22 to the open position substantially reduces the resistance of the register 10 to a flow of air and thereby enables relatively large volumes of cold air for cooling to flow through the register. The damper assembly 26 is provided on the back of the register 10 to control the rate of air flow through the register and to direct the flow of air.

I claim: 1. A register assembly for directing and controlling a flow of air, said register assembly comprising a base means for engaging a support structure and defining an opening through which air flows, said base means including a plurality of sides defining the opening and a continuous flange extending transversely outwardly from said sides and adapted to abuttingly engage an outer surface of the support structure, a damper assembly mounted on said sides of said base means rearwardly of said flange for limiting and directing the flow of air through the opening, said damper assembly including a plurality of blades extending across the opening and pivotally connected at opposite ends to said sides, said blades being movable between a closed position in which said blades overlap each other to block a flow of air through the opening and an open condition in which said blades are spaced apart to enable air to flow through the opening, actuator means for moving said blades simultaneously between said open and closed conditions, said actuator means including an actuator lever pivotally mounted on one of said sides of said base means and extending through a slot in said flange to enable said actuator means to be selectively operated from the front of said register assembly and a connector link pivotally connected to said actuator lever and to each of said blades for moving each of said blades upon movement of said actuator lever, and a louvered front panel pivotally connected to opposite sides of said base means forwardly of said damper assembly and pivotal between a first position in which said front panel is flush with said flange of said base means and the louvers of the front panel extend across said opening to disperse the flow of air and a second position in which said front panel extends outwardly and upwardly from a lower portion of said base means to provide an unrestricted opening between an upper edge portion of said front panel and an upper section of said flange to reduce the resistance to flow of air through the opening defined by said base means and to direct the flow of air upwardly.

2. An assembly as set forth in claim 1 further including detent means on said front panel for engaging said base means to retain said front panel in said first position.

3. A register assembly as set forth in claim 2 further including stop means for limiting outward pivoting movement of said front panel relative to said base means.

4. A register assembly as set forth in claim 1 further including knob means mounted on said front panel for facilitating movement of said front panel from said first position to said second position.

5. A register assembly as set forth in claim 4 further including a stop surface portion formed on said front panel and disposed in abutting engagement with said base means when said front panel is in said second position to thereby limit outward pivoting movement of said front panel relative to said base means. 

